How could a doctor tell us our baby had died in the womb?
Couple’s fury after scan blunder almost led them to abortion
CRADLED in her mother’s arms, she is the very picture of a healthy baby girl.
But little Riley Williams came close to being aborted when her doting parents, Ben and Susanna, were told by a doctor at a private clinic that she had died in the early weeks of her mother’s pregnancy.
The couple were given the devastating news that Susanna had suffered a ‘missed miscarriage’ – when the mother’s body fails to recognise the baby has died in the womb – at six weeks.
They left the clinic facing the terrible choice of Susanna having an induced miscarriage (known as a D& C) to remove the apparently dead foetus – or allowing her body more time to miscarry naturally.
But after they spent a week trying to come to terms with the heartbreaking news, an NHS scan revealed that their unborn baby was alive after all.
The couple’s joy at the ‘miracle’ was tempered by anger towards the doctor at the private clinic whose error could have had such catastrophic consequences.
Susanna, 32, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Every time I look at Riley, I can’t help think how she might not have made it. We could have got rid of her. And I fear other couples might have aborted healthy babies after being given wrong information at private scanning clinics.’
Susanna, a sales executive, discovered she was expecting their second child late last summer. She was both excited and nervous. ‘I had miscarried before in 2014 at eight weeks, so I thought, “Let’s check it out, and put my mind at ease.” ’ Reluctant to wait for the 12-week ultrasound scan given to all expectant mothers by the NHS, she found the private Window To the Womb clinic in Chessington, South-West London, on the internet. ‘It had decent reviews and did scans from six weeks,’ she said.
The couple arrived at the clinic with their two-year-old daughter Arabella, excited that she might soon have a new brother or sister.
But the mood changed when the clinic’s sonographer Dr Ashish Sharma began the scan. ‘He went quiet and I asked, “Can’t you see anything?” ’ said Susanna. ‘He said, “Don’t worry. We’ll do an internal scan, because e we can get more detail that way.” ’
According to the couple, after performing the internal scan he turned to them and said: ‘Unfortunately, your baby stopped growing at six weeks. You are actually eight weeks’ pregnant, not seven as you thought. But there is no foetal heartbeat.’
He explained to a tearful Susanna that she had experienced a ‘missed miscarriage’ and the couple say they had no reason to doubt his diagnosis. Dr Sharma told them to make an urgent appointment at the nearby Kingston NHS Hospital to discuss whether to let nature take its course or have the D&C. The couple insist he never suggested having a second scan to confirm the baby had died.
Susanna was inclined towards a D&C, but the next day a nurse at Kingston Hospital advised her to wait a week because the pregnancy was not advanced. The hospital then decided to do a scan of its own.
On the night before the scan, Susanna told Ben: ‘I don’t feel ready to say goodbye to this pregnancy.
‘I still feel very pregnant but I know I’ve got to stop thinking like this.’ Hours later, a Kingston Hospital sonographer told them: ‘I’ve got some good news for you. There’s your baby – and that’s your baby’s heartbeat.’
Overjoyed, the couple were still cautious. ‘I thought it still might go wrong,’ said Susanna. ‘I only began to relax after the 20-week scan.’ Riley was born safe and well in May.
Ben later called Dr Sharma to tell him of the error. ‘But when I talked to him, there was no apology,’ Ben, 36, said. ‘Instead, he said, “I’m really happy it worked out for you.” ’
According to Ben, Dr Sharma said he had advised the couple to get a second opinion. They dispute that and want private clinics performing scans to make clear the results can be misinterpreted or misleading, especially early in pregnancy.
Last night, Window To The Womb said it ‘sincerely apologised’ to the couple for any distress. A spokeswoman described the mistake as ‘an isolated incident’ and noted the firm scanned more than 100,000 pregnant woman a year.
‘We recognise that we failed on this occasion,’ she said, adding that additional training had since been introduced.